Toilet tissue magazine and dispensing cabinet



INVENTORJ. Joseph Page I NITEo STATE The present invention relates to a magazine and dispensing cabinet for rolls of toilet-paper, toweling or the like, and aims to provide certain improvements in such cabinets.

Various types of magazine and dispensing apparatus for toilet paper, toweling and the like have been heretofore proposed but comparatively few of such devices have found acceptance, especiallyin the home,.for various reasons, such as, they were too costly, or embodied delicate mechanism which would rapidly get out of order, or they required complicated means for replacing an empty spindle or roller with a fresh roll of paper in dispensing position.

The present invention has for its object: (1) to provide a device of the character set forth that is exceedingly simple in construction and operation; (2) which is free of'complicated or delicate operating mechanism; (3) which is sosimple that a, child of tender years can operate it; and (4) which may be embodied in a wallcabinet or in a built-in cabinet.

The foregoing and other objects of our invention not specifically enumerated we accomplish by providing a cabinet having a magazine compartment adapted to hold a plurality of rolls of toilet paper, toweling or the like and a feed roll compartment, the respective compartments-being arranged in superposed and communicating relation and being so related that, upon the feed roll becoming exhausted, it is merely necessary to remove the empty spindleor roller and to operate a simple releasing means, whereupon a fresh roll of paper will move by the action of gravity from the magazine compartment into operative position in the feed roll compartment. The device also includes a storage space for the retention of empty spindles or rollers until such time that said spindles will be required for insertion into the core of new rolls of paper to be stored in the magazine compartment. The invention will be better understood from the detailed description which follows when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a front elevational view of a magazine and dispensing cabinet embodying our invention. 7

Fig. 2 is a-longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1. v

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view, on a somewhat enlarged scale, of the roll-retaining and releasing device.

Referring to the drawings, wherein we have S PATENT" OFFICE 2,s05,9v- 1 some Tissue melzms lssmsmssmer r l CABINET a manage and can Mattioli, New York, N.Y. I; m ssel-ante 12, 19'5l, Serial No. 231,125 f V scrum; (c1. 242- -55.s 1 f shown a preferredembodimentof our invention,

the reference numeral l0 indicates a substantially rectangular cabinet having'side walls H and I2, a rear wall l3, a top wall [4, a bottom wall l5 and a front Wall 16. As herein shown, the cabinet If! is of the built-in type which seats within a recess in a wall I! having a. decorative front panel [8, the cabinet extending somewhat in front of the panel iI8,--as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The cabinet-maybe supported within the wall I! in any desired manner and is herein shown asheld by brackets [9, 20 and 2|.

The cabinet It may be said to contain a magazine compartment 22 which isfsuperposed. and in communication relation to. aieed. roll compartment 23,the magazinecompartment being intended to hold one or more reserve rolls of paper 24 and 25 whilethe feed roll compartment is intended to support a roll of paper. 26 in dispensing position so that the. paper therefrom. may be withdrawn as required by graspingthe free end 2'! thereof and withdrawing as much of thepaper as desired, the roll being freeto rotate upon a spindle 28.

The side walls- I I and Bare preferably formed with opposed, longitudinal guideways 29 and 30 which extend from an upper portion of the magazine section 22 to the feed roll section 23, and said side walls are also formed with opposed, laterally-extending guideways 3| and 32 in the magazine compartment and with opposed, laterally-extending guideways 33 and 34 in the feed roll compartment. The inner ends of the guideways 3l, 32, and 33, 34 intersect the guideways 29 and 30, the intersection between the guideways 33, 34, and 29, 30providing a support for the spindle 28 within the feed roll section. Preferably the guideways 33, extend downwardly from the front of the cabinet so that when paper is withdrawn from theroll 26 there will not be present the tendency of withdrawing the roll 26 from its compartment. If desired, an additional pair of lateral, downwardly-inclined guideways 35, 36 may be provided in the side walls below the guideways 33, 34 so as to-cleara full roll 26 when positioned in the feed roll compartment, for a purpose which will presently appear.

Mounted in the cabinet between the magazine compartment 22-and the feed roll compartment tending through the ears 39 and eyes 40 is a pin 4! having mounted thereon a tension spring 42 adapted to normally bias the lower end 38a of the arcuate plate 38 so that said end will be disposed in the path of downward movement of the roll 24 in the magazine section and the upper end 38b of the arcuate plate will be disposed out of the path of the roll 25 which is normally supported inthe magazine section upon the roll 24. Secured to the rear face of the lower end 38a of the arcuate plate is one end of a flexible ball chain 43, the other end of which extends through an opening 44 in the front wall I6 and is provided with an enlarged, finger-engaging knob 45.

To give the device a finished appearance the front of the cabinet is provided with a door 46 which is hinged at 41 to the side walls and is provided with a finger-engaging knob 48 and a spring latch 49 to permit opening and latching of the door when it is desired to re-charge the magazine with fresh rolls of paper.

In the operation of the device the magazine compartment 22 is charged with two rolls of paper 24 and 25, from which the wrappers have been removed, each roll being provided with a spindle extending through the core of the roll, the said spindles having reduced ends which are inserted into the front ends of the opposed guideways 3| and 32 and move by gravity down the guideways 29 and 39. The lower end 33a of the arcuate plate being biased inwardly by the spring 42, said end 38a will provide a support for the roll 24 and the roll 25 superimposed upon it. Let us now assume that the feed roll compartment 23 is empty. and that the spindle normally held at the intersection of the guideways 29, 30, and 33, 34 has been removed and inserted in the guideways 35, 38. Then, upon pulling on the knob 45, the arcuate plate 38 will pivot about the pin 4| to the broken line position designated 50 against the tension of the spring 42, the roll 24 with its spindle will drop by gravity into the recesses provided at the intersection of the guideways 29, 39, and 33, 34 and will be there held in position for dispensing the paper from said roll. In the course of dispensing a roll as described in the preceding sentence, the upper end 38b of the arcuate plate will engage the roll 25 as it partially descends within the magazine compartment and hold it in an intermediate position until the knob 25 is released, whereupon the plate 38 will be moved under the tension of the spring 42 to its normal position and will there arrest the roll 25 in its further downward movement. When the feed roll in compartment 23 has been exhausted, the spindle 28 is withdrawn, inserted into the guideways 35, 36 and a fresh roll fed into position in the manner above recited. Both the rolls from the magazine section having been thus dispensed, the spindles from guidew-ays 35, 35 are inserted into fresh rolls after removing their wrappers and said spindles, tog-ether with the rolls, are charged into the magazine section in the manner aforementioned.

It willthus be seen that we have provided a magazine and dispensing cabinet for rolls of toilet paper which is exceedingly simple in construction and operation and, while we have shown and described a preferred embodiment of our invention, it is-to be understood that changes in details of the construction disclosed may be resorted to within the range of mechanical skill without departing from the spirit of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What we claim is:

l. A magazine and dispensing cabinet for rolls of toilet paper, toweling and the like, comprising an upright container formed with a magazine section and a feed roll section arranged in superposed and communicating relation, means in the feed roll section for removably supporting a spindle upon which a roll of paper may be held in dispensing relation, a roll-retaining and releasing device in the magazine section having a first part normally disposed in the path of downward movement of the lowermost roll in the magazine section for supporting said roll and any superposed rolls by engaging the body of the lowermost roll, and a second part normally disposed out of the path of downward movement of the rolls in the magazine section and means operable from the exterior of the cabinet for operating the retaining and releasing device to move the said first part out of the path of the lowermost roll in the magazine section and simultaneously moving said second part into the path of the next to the lowermost roll in the magazine section whereby to release the lowermost roll from the magazine sec tion so that it will drop into the feed roll section and retain the next to the lowermost roll in the magazine section, within said section, the rollretaining end and releasing device including spring means for normally biasing the device to hold the said first part in the path of downward movement of the lowermost roll in the magazine section. v

2. A magazine and dispensing cabinet according .to claim 11wherein the roll-retaining and releasing device comprises an arcuate plate, means pivotally mounting said arcuate plate so that it may move about an axis parallel to the axes of the rolls in the magazine section, said spring means biasing said arcuate plate so that normally a first end portion thereof will be disposed in the path of downward movement of the lowermost roll in the magazine section and the other end portion thereof will be disposed out of the path of downward. movement of the roll next above the lowermost roll.

3. A magazine and dispensing cabinet according to claim 2 wherein the means operable from the exterior of the container for operating. the retaining and releasing device is a flexible pull element connected at one end to the said first end portion of the arcuate plate and having its opposite end extending through the front of the cabinet. v

' JOSEPH PAGE.

CARL MATTIOLI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,057,973 Merritt Apr. 1, 1913 2,299,301 Britt Oct. 20, 1942 2,299,736 Cavoto e Oct. 27, 1942 

